Thank God, Genius Still Counts

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My son Dave wrote from Alaska to tell that he bought an AK47 as a toy. He bought it with the bonus Alaska citizens get from Sarah Palin.

I guess that in Alaska there is enough empty space that people can have toys like that. The part that surprised me though is that Dave chose an AK47. He just came back from active duty with the National Guard. He is supposedly fully familiar with the M16. Why didn't he buy a civilian version of that? Price may have something to do with it, but I think that the more important reason is that the design of that gun by General Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov is pure genius. Hooray for genius.

Other great examples of unbeatable genius were the yacht designs of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. So great was his genius that his arch rival, the wealthy Englishman Sir Thomas Lipton, gave up Americas Cup challenges after several attempts. He wrote a letter saying that it was futile for anyone to compete with the genius of Herreshoff, no matter what the resources.

Some great inventions come from inspiration, such as those mentioned above. Most however come more from persperition. Sadly, in the modern world, I think there is more persperation and less inspiration. Therefore, it is uplifting to see moderns reminders of genius such as the AK47 (regardless of the purposes to which it is applied)

A very modern and famous example of great invention by perperation is the Iphone. Wired Magazine published an recent article explaning how Steve Jobs drove his designers like an evil slave overlord to accomplish the design. Great design yes, but not a product of inspiration or genius.